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Amidzad

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Firm Rating:

Rated 2.1 / 5.0 by 14

TrackRecord

2.4

OperatingCompetence

1.4

PitchingEfficiency

1.9

FavorableDeal Terms

2.5

ExecutionAssistance

2.1

Firm Homepage:

FIRM OVERVIEW: Very Small Angels founded in 2000 based out of Palo Alto, Santa Clara (US West)

Amidzad is two people venture, not four. Guys in charge are Saeed and Pejman.

They are sleazy and try to get people to lease their Plug and Play office. My friend told me about them a while back. He also told me that they are all about bullshit. I didn't agree with him since on their website they talk about Paypal and few other noteworthy startups. Well, it's all B.S..

They first show lots of interest. Then they throw big names like: "you know Pejman, we should talk about this with Ron (Conway)" or "I think Michael Mortiz would like to hear their pitch"...

Then we went for the second time, it was supposed to be a 60 min pitch and Q&A. One was late, the other said he had to leave, we got interrupted 3 times by other people including the property manager. The whole meeting was about 20 min including all interruptions. And they never answer their email. Saeed bounces things to Pejman and vice-versa. So unprofessional and immature!

So naturally, I tried to understand more about these jerks. Here is what learned:

- they are rug dealers and not venture capitalists
- they are well-connected in the valley because they deliver rugs to rich people houses and not because they are savvy investors in technology
- their business is real estate and they will do what they can to sell you that
- they are writing checks for 25k to 75k max. In couple of cases they did 150k
- they tag along with other investors (which is very good for you and for them)
- they rented few rooms to Paypal founders and now they consider themselves original investor of Paypal.
- they are 98% talk and 2% action
- Pejman is a total jerk. Avoid him if you can
- Saeed is soft spoken and likable. But beware of appearances

Posted by
Saeed Amidi !!!
on 2011-09-24

PUBLIC:

They are not a fund. Here is how they work:
They take 1% of your company and they are simply over priced landlords that tag along other VC's and funds opportunistically. They over charge you $700/month for a cubicle of 3.

The 1% is because they do say that they introduce you to VCs and angels. But their so called angels are service providers that want to charge you something, and the VCs can not stand the site of Saeed and his team and only tolerate them because he does once in a blue moon come across gems like dropbox -- A Canadian Company -- or Zoosk.

Using them as a reference or for introduction is a HUGE mistake. You get one chance with investors, and these idiots are not good references. That is why I call them a total liability. Any respectable VC bad mouths them.

Moreover, if you are anywhere near being a great company, Amidzad people will work against you to push your valuation down. This way their small investment turns into huge profits. That is how they paid 250K for 2.5M post valuation of Zoosk initially !!! The company is now worth 2.5 Billion supposedly, and Saeed openly gloats that the Founders were clueless and did not know how to negotiate.

By the way, this is why they target Universities too. Zoosk came out of Berkeley.

The reason they cater to foreign countries is also to find clueless entrepreneurs. But there is another insidious reason. No one else in their right mind wants to pay their ridiculously high prices. But foreign governments who have deep pockets and nowhere else to go are willing to pay them. And by the way, they jack up the price on you as soon as they get a chance.

One last thing, they absolutely HATE thefunded.com! A friend of mine who was at Plug and Pay -- that is what he called them, plug and pay -- said that he was told directly to avoid thefunded.com and never to read it. I wonder why?!

I know a number of companies who have taken investments (as follow-on) from these guys, and every one refers to these guys as "dumb money."

Don't get me wrong, they understand how to run their successful family businesses: be it the water company, Plug and Play (another real estate play), or selling their persian rugs (the equivalent of selling cars), but DO NOT think that they understand anything about the future of investments, they will defer to their friends in the valley who they think are smarter and be part of the "add-on capital."

The Amidzad and Plug and Play organization itself is not well demarcated. The other review about them being "absolutely useless" says it best. Our experiences were that if they cannot give you a direct answer initially or you're not speaking directly with Saeed or Pejman, leave immediately.

Posted by
anonymous
on 2009-09-29

PUBLIC:

One of the founders of Amidzad is Saeed Amidi. He is also the founder of PlugandPlayTechCenter in Sunnyvale, a shared office space for startups.

Saeed claims to be an active investor.
He was very soft-spoken and rather pleasant to deal with. He also claimed that he moves fast when he likes something and brings in other investors. Seems to be well-connected.

In our case, it didn't work out - it ended pretty quickly in a "soft" no.